The demand for improved data storage techniques and systems continues to grow. Hard disk drives utilizing magneto-resistive heads to write data to and read data from one or more spinning magnetic storage media are one of the most important and widespread devices in the data storage field.
Hard disk drives store binary encoded information as regions of magnetic flux on a medium having a magnetic surface coating. There has been a continual push to encode these magnetic regions on the disk as densely as practical, so as to increase the amount of storage capability of the hard disk drive. However, increasing areal density requirements places a burden on write circuitry in the hard disk drive to generate smaller recorded patterns on the disk. Moreover, in an effort to save power, particularly with portable devices, there has been a push to reduce supply voltage, which creates an even greater challenge for the write circuitry.